


Always (by Isak Danielson)

by AlmondBlossomsTC



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Listen. I’m allowed to write venty domestic fic. I’m an adult.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 16:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21000419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondBlossomsTC/pseuds/AlmondBlossomsTC
Summary: Takaaki goes grocery shopping, Hiroko takes a bath. Relentlessly domestic because they love each other and are old.





	Always (by Isak Danielson)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t edit this because of course I didn’t

She was just starting to exfoliate her legs when she heard her phone chime. Leaning over the side of the bathtub, she poked the ‘Answer Call’ button, then put it on speaker, getting droplets of water all over the screen. 

“Hello?”

“Hiroko.”

Of course. “Calling me from the station, Kaaki-bear? Am I in trouble? Whatever you heard, it wasn’t me.” She settled down into her bath again. Continuing to scrub at her legs, she heard him sigh. 

“No. I was told to leave work early.”

“Early? You get off at 5, honey. It’s quarter after 6.”

“Earli-er.” Takaaki had a long-standing bad habit of staying at the station long after he was supposed to. Slowly, she’d been working on breaking him of it, and had managed to talk him down from 9 PM to 7. And with some clever application of her feminine wiles, she’d been stopping him from leaving home at ungodly hours of the morning as well. 

The 6’5” stickbug of a man, all knees and elbows, certainly didn’t look like much of a cuddler. But she’d found that she was soft enough to make up for his angles. 

Hiroko rinsed the salt scrub off her leg and switched to the other, rubbing it on. “Calling me from the train?” she teased. “What poor manners.”

“I’m in the grocery store,” he deadpanned, clearly not impressed at the implication that he would put even a single toe outside the societal etiquette rules. 

“And I’m in the bath.” She heard him make a small, scandalized noise. Poor thing. “What’re you doing in the grocery store?”

“We are out of milk.”

“Ask me what I’m doing in the bath.”

“I will not.”

“Aw.”

“I called because I wasn’t sure what else we needed. But if you’re in the bath, I imagine you don’t know either.”

“Hang on, I can go check.” Hiroko rinsed her other leg off and laboriously stood, shivering as the cool air contrasted with the heat of the bathwater. Carelessly drying her feet on the bathmat, she picked the phone up and padded out of the bathroom and into the hall, still unclothed. “Milk, and...?”

“Probably some produce. Are you going to the kitchen?” His tone was suspicious. He always seemed to have a sixth sense of when she was doing something Indecent.

“Just to check the fridge.”

“Are you dripping on the floor? I didn’t hear you dry off.”

“Kaaki, you’re killing me here.”

“Sorry.”

His worries were valid - she hadn’t dried off. She’d wipe the floor later. Opening the fridge up and shivering when the cold air met her damp skin, she set the phone down on the counter. “Looks like we’re down to our last pepper,” she mused, rifling through the crisper drawer. “Maybe broccoli, if it’s on sale? Garlic, definitely.”

“I can look for broccoli.” Takaaki audibly fumbled the phone, catching it before it hit the ground. “Are there apples?”

“There’s a few. You never eat the apples I buy.”

“You get the wrong ones.”

“Aw, you never told me!”

“It doesn’t matter. Do you still have the fridge open?”

A cop, through and through. Hiroko let the fridge close. “I’m not letting the cold air out, hon,” she teased. “Was there anything else?”

She could hear Takaaki hesitate on the other end of the line. “Do we have chicken bouillon powder?”

“The stuff you put in the fried rice? Shit, I do think we’re low on that,” she replied, opening the appropriate cupboard and craning her neck to check. Their height difference meant that the taller shelves were off-limits for her. “Hold on, I’ll climb-“

“No you will not. You’ll slip off and crack your head open.”

“So fussy, Kaaki.”

“Hiroko.”

She sighed heavily, more to mock him for his stern tone than anything. “I’ll stay on task.”

“Are you well-stocked on your feminine products?”

That did make her choke in surprise, almost closing the cupboard door on her fingers. “What the hell?”

“I have a coupon, but it’s only valid if I spend 5000 yen and I’m just under.”

“So instead of picking up a pack of gum, your mind goes to tampons?”

“I don’t chew gum. I’ll buy one box of your usual.”

“Pragmatic as always,” she murmured, smiling to herself. Then she shivered. “Can I go get back in the tub? Or did you want me to do anything else?”

“That was all I needed. Thank you.”

Hiroko made a kissing noise into the receiver of the phone - met with stoic silence - as she moved back down the hallway, dodging the now-cold puddles she’d left with her footsteps before. As she stepped over the lip of the tub and settled back into the water, she registered that Takaaki hadn’t hung up yet. 

“Still there, hon?”

“...yes.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want me to look anywhere else? You’re out of luck if you changed your mind, I’m all comfy again.” There was an odd tension in his tone. She tried to defuse it with her normal teasing, but paid careful attention to his next words. 

“There’s nothing else.”

“...”

“...”

“So?”

“What?”

Hiroko knew there was no point rolling her eyes at someone who wasn’t in the room with her. “You’re still on the line,” she pointed out, picking up the razor from her little bath caddy and lathering up one leg. 

His next words were defensive. “Our phone plan allows for free calling after 6 PM. It’s now-“ A moment of rustling as he checked his watch. “-6:27.” 

She opened her mouth, then smiled. What a sap. “We’re going to see each other in less than half an hour, goofball.”

“I might need to consult you for more grocery decisions.”

“Sure. Or you’re a dirty old man,” she mused, dragging the razor along the back of her shin before rinsing it off in the bathwater and repeating the motion. “You want to listen to me in the bath because you get to think about me naked.”

“I’m hanging up.”

“Aww, Kaaki bear, I’m teasing!”

“Don’t call me- that.”

Takaaki hated being called old - she always forgot. He felt that stress had aged him poorly, eyes hollowing, the lines on his forehead deepening. She liked to kiss between his brows to make his eyes cross and tell him his grey hairs made him look distinguished, not ancient. It was a work in progress. 

But even more, he hated it when she made a big deal about his little idiosyncrasies, so she brushed over it so as not to embarrass the poor man. “You don’t think it’s dirty to be calling me while I’m in the bath?”

Something in Takaaki’s tone was achingly fond. “Knowing you, you’re so covered in bubble bath, you may as well be clothed.”

God, she loved him. “Ooh - would you mind picking me up some more bubble bath if you see it?”

“Not with the grocery budget.”

“Aw. Did you have a good day?”

She listened to him putter about for a bit and think to himself. He was always very careful when answering questions, even trivial ones. 

“I did. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Thank you for packing me an apple.”

“But you said you didn’t like them?”

“I still appreciate it. I have to check out now. Have you eaten dinner?”

A glass of wine in the tub counted as a partial dinner, right? “I could have more. Want me to start the rice?”

“You can stay in the bath. I can start dinner when I get home. After cleaning up your puddles.”

Oops. “I love you, baby.”

“You too.” He always got too flustered to say it when he was in public. “I’ll see you when I get home.”

“Will you come see me in the tub?”

“If you’re still there.”

“Perv.”

The line went dead, predictably, and she laughed to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright babe I’m in the pad aisle what size pussy you wear  
I couldn’t find a way to incorporate it into the story but - Takaaki bought her one (1) peach with the groceries because they’re her favourite but they’re a bit pricy. He loves her


End file.
